Nikolai Beilharz and Leigh Radford started off the week long road trip up to Oodnadatta in style from the town square in Port Augusta.

Today marks the start of NAIDOC week and all morning there have been celebrations here in Port Augusta to celebrate indigenous culture and achievements.

NAIDOC week celebrates indigenous culture and the great indigenous contributions to society and communities.

Clinton Dadler has been organising the NAIDOC celebrations here in Port Augusta and discussed the importance of the town to surrounding communities.

Corey MacKenzie ist the community engagement officer and talks about what's needed to keep young people involved in the community.

Now most of the morning there's been music ringing out across the town square and that comes from the local indigenous music station, Umeewarra.

Vince Coulthard has been the man in charge of the station for 20 years now and talks about the challenges of running a radio station that is heard across more than 35 language groups.

The team is at the start of an epic road trip this week - heading all the way up the Oodnadatta track.

Over those vast landscapes, there's an amazing array of plant and animal life and Deon Shumann from the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens talks about what we can expect to see as we head further north.

To hear all the interviews in full, click on the South Australian Country Hour podcast.